We started strong, but we may not finish strong. It doesn't matter. At the end of the day, I'm still going to believe.

Every bleeding green fan's feeling anxious right now, getting ready for the real season to begin. To a certain extent, the last five games still matter but I know a lot of us couldn't care less. We've suffered our share of losses from great teams, "get-championship-quick" teams and teams not even worth mentioning in this post. We've lost miserably and we've had some heartbreakers in the end.

But at the end of the day, I'm still going to believe.

A majority of our big men are on a game-to-game basis. Injured and out for most of the season. They return for a game, damage themselves again, and it's back to the locker room to figure out how to go through the rest of the games without them. Even the younger bigs have caught up with their own set of injuries, leaving all of us scratching our heads and wondering in our hearts.

They said everyone's getting healthy again and it's only a matter of time. But anything can still happen - especially to a veteran team like the Celtics. You never know who's going to brake a leg, suffer a concussion, or develop the flu in the last minute.

Or even traded ... changing the Beantown landscape drastically.

But at the end of the day, I'm still going to believe.

We'll never know if our general manager made the right moves, probably not until the end of this season. So far, we've seen what the new-look Cs can do, grounded with the core of The Big Four. But heading to the postseason, in some ways this looks more like an experiment to see if all of this will work out as envisioned and planned. Some said it's still possible to win Banner 18 - it's just going to be harder. Others claim it's going to be better when the playoffs kick off and Boston flips the switch (like they did before). Then there's the doomsday bunch who's declared a black cloud hanging over the Celtics, saying we've already given the eastern supremacy rights to the Heat and the Bulls. The offense is stinky, the defense and Rondo's head are nowhere to be found.

We all have our opinions and as a brotherhood in Boston, we all respect each other's say.

As for me ... at the end of the day, I'm still going to believe.

Our rotation is declared. We're ready to roll when April 17 hits. Homecourt advantage in the first two rounds would be good, but we've seen before how our team plays on the road with their backs against the wall. Perhaps last season was last season and it's all a different scenario right now. Not to mention the revamp of our roster.

But the heart remains. The desire is still burning. And I trust that come playoff time, led by our future hall of famers and outstanding coach ... Ubuntu will be reborn and taken to the next level. Everyone knows what's at stake and we've been talking about it since the offseason. Now it's time to walk the walk and show the rest of the league who we really are at our best, when everything matters.

We're in for a tough ride that's a surety. But the other angle is also true. Those who'll be facing us are in for the toughest beating of their lives, because we are one team that's ready to change gears, ready to give it all when the moment counts, ready to collide, ready to win it all.

I agree. People are hitting the panic button too much. It's just how it is around here sometimes and the players/coaches hopefully know that and don't pay a whole lot of attention to the negativity. Hell, last year people were counting the Celtics out in mid-february and they were right there at the end of the year in the finals. I firmly believe that top to bottom this team is more talented than anyone in the east and can definitely match up with whoever comes out of the west if it comes to that.

Yeah I believe. I believe a team had a 6 game lead over the Lakers in the loss column and totally blew it, and will now have to win 2 games in LA to win the championship because they couldn't focus and knock off teams like Charlotte, Houston and Memphis at home and Washington, Toronto, & New Jersey on the road.